John French Sloan Quotes

Find your own technique.

…in the habit of watching every bit of human life I can see about my windows, but I do it so that I am not observed at it.

Painting is drawing, with the additional means of color.

Artists are the only people in the world who really live. The others have to hope for heaven.

Be sensitive to your mistakes. Put it on the wall for a couple of weeks. It may be that you can learn more from the study of your own work than from others.

There is a better chance of getting an exciting painting from a laboured study with texture than from a fine drawing without it.

Nature is what you see plus what you think about it.

Line is the most powerful device of drawing.

Drawing and composition are the same thing.

Study the great brush drawings of the Chinese and Japanese… When we try to imitate their conventions for perspective, form and texture we lose the content, because those artists were part of an ancient tradition. Our tradition changes rapidly, our schools of thought come to fruition quickly and decay again. We see differently.

Originality is a quality that cannot be imitated. The technique of the language, on the other hand, is something that belongs to all who can understand it.

I always think of shade as being full of light. That is why I like to use the word shade rather than light and shadow. Shade seems to play over the thing, envelop it, better define it, while shadow seems to fall on the thing and stain the surface with darks.